House passes $1.1T spending deal to fund government

The House easily passed a $1.1 trillion government wide spending bill on Wednesday, awarding wins to both Democrats and Republicans while putting off until later this year fights over President Donald Trump’s promised border wall with Mexico and massive military buildup.

Vice President Mike Pence hailed the deal at a school choice event at the White House, saying the spending bill that Trump would sign would give “new life and funding” to the Washington, D.C., school voucher program, the only federally funded voucher program in the U.S.

Republicans were surprised by tweets from Trump on Tuesday that suggested he was initially unhappy with the measure and might provoke a government shutdown this fall in hopes of getting his way on the wall and other demands. And that was after Republicans changed the rules of the Senate to get Trump’s Supreme Court nominee through, his biggest accomplishment in his first 100 days.

On Tuesday, however, Trump took to Twitter, angrily reacting to media reports depicting Democrats such as Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of NY as winners in the negotiations.

“The American people elected Republicans in November to shake up Washington“, Wagner said, “and yet this 1,700-page monster blocked 160 common-sense conservative priorities”. Democrats said Trump would shoulder the blame for any shutdown now.

“They’re walking around trying to make it like they pulled one over fast on the president, and I just won’t stand for it”, Mulvaney said at the briefing.

Those were the loud and clear political messages from Wednesday’s 309-118 House of Representatives vote approving a fiscal 2017 budget to keep the government running past Friday night. Politico reported that Trump “was furious Tuesday morning with news coverage about the spending deal”, because the reports he saw made him look like “the loser” in the deal.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who is determined to avoid shutdowns that damage the party’s reputation, signaled Trump is going to have to deal with the hand he’s been dealt.

The White House meeting and Ryan’s optimism comes with House leaders short of votes for their drive to repeal much of President Barack Obama’s health care law.

Many need help doing those jobs, because even with the bipartisan agreement, some agencies remain “woefully underfunded and understaffed”, Erwin said.

The growing opposition among influential House Republicans has stoked deep uncertainty about when or whether GOP leaders will hold a vote on a revised measure.

The legislation’s prospects brightened further after members of the Freedom Caucus, a faction of conservative lawmakers in the House who played a key role in derailing the original version of the bill last month, said they could go along with the compromise. The final vote Thursday was 217-213. Both things Trump promised the opposite of on the campaign trail.

Conservatives are also furious that the legislation doesn’t block funding to Planned Parenthood, but Trump said that, too, would be resolved “at the appropriate time”.

After Congress chose to move forward with a spending plan that doesn’t include cash for President Donald Trump’s border wall, the leader of the free world took his frustrations out the best way he knew how: on Twitter, of course.

For Donald Trump, one thing is important – winning, or at least the appearance of it. “This called PR”, Ryan said of Democrats’ claims.

In a hastily called conference call announced soon after the tweets, Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney forcefully repeated the White House’s arguments for why Republicans got a good deal.

Trump took to Twitter earlier this week to complain about the bipartisan process that produced the measure but changed course to crow about additional spending for the military and border security.